Software
Dissertation
Title:   Do Citizens Understand the Benefits of Government? Experiments on Voting, Taxes, and Redistribution

Committee:   Peter DeScioli (Chair), Andy Delton, John B. Ryan, and Jason Barabas.

Summary:   Why do many voters oppose policies that could bring them benefits? My dissertation uses economic games I designed and programmed to test several hypotheses (for demos, see Software). For instance, do voters misunderstand who benefits from higher taxes? Do voters find it more intuitive when only the rich are taxed, and only the poor recieve benefits? And, do voters support more redistribution when they believe citizens' incomes are based on privilege, rather than on merit?


Peer-Reviewed Publications
  1. Carter, B., and Del Ponte, A. (2022). Integrating web applications into popular survey platforms for online experiments. Behavior Research Methods. [pdf]
  2. Barabas, J., Carter, B., and Shan, K. (2020). Analogical Framing: How Policy Comparisons Alter Political Support for Health Care Reform. American Politics Research, 48, 596–611. [pdf]

Works in Progress
  • Do people understand who benefits from higher taxes?
    With Peter DeScioli and Alessandro Del Ponte
    (Manuscript in Prep) [draft]
  • Is it more intuitive to tax only the rich?
    With Peter DeScioli
    (Data Collection & Analysis)
  • Merit versus privilege: Do voters demand more redistribution when income depends on favoritism?
    With Peter DeScioli
    (Design & Programming)